


like real people do

by greywardenblue



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Book-based, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 10:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6513901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywardenblue/pseuds/greywardenblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon goes to the cinema without Clary, but ends up being seated next to three too familiar vampires.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like real people do

**Author's Note:**

> I had a thought, dear / However scary  
> About that night / The bugs and the dirt  
> Why were you digging? / What did you bury  
> Before those hands pulled me / From the earth?

There was no possible way for Simon’s day to get any worse.

He ran out of blood packs, and while the hunger wasn’t painful yet, it certainly didn’t improve his mood. There was the rain, too, that hadn’t stopped since the morning. There was the disastrous band practice, and there was Clary postponing their strictly friendly movie-date that they’d been planning for weeks.

It wasn’t her fault that there was a demon attack, of course, and she apologised profusely when she called Simon on her way to the fight. But spending time with Clary was rare nowadays, thanks to her busy Shadowhunting schedule, and this was the only thing worth looking forward to this week. Besides, he _wanted_ to see that movie, and even Clary encouraged him to watch it without her. They would go to something else later, she promised.

So he finally decided to go alone. ( _Nobody will care, Simon_ , Rebecca would say. _I know you think they’ll call you pathetic behind your back, but they won’t even notice, you know? Everyone has their own insecurities to concentrate on._ ) After all, there was no possible way for Simon’s day to–

“Hey! Look at that!” At first he didn’t even think the sudden shout had anything to do with him, but it wasn’t long before he realised. “Isn’t that the Daylighter?”

Simon took a deep breath he didn’t need, and considered not even turning his head towards the girl’s voice. He silently hoped the vampires of Dumort came to see a different movie.

“It _is_ him. He looks a little lost without his Shadowhunter friends, don’t you think?”

That voice, he couldn’t quite place, but the next one–

“ _Dios_ , would you stop shouting? I don’t _care_ if it’s the Daylighter or not.”

Finally, Simon turned and found himself facing… Well, one of them was Lily, for sure. He recalled seeing the other boy before, the one with the dreadlocks and that _awful_ moustache, but he couldn’t remember his name. They were both eyeing Simon curiously, Lily with a strange smirk on her lips.

Next to them, Raphael seemed completely uninterested in his surroundings and focused on the phone in his hands. 

“Hello, Daylighter,” Lily greeted him with suspicious eagerness, and Simon regretted making eye contact. He should have just pretended to be deaf.

“Err…” Maybe it still wasn’t too late. He could say he had an accident. “Hi.”

“Daylighter,” Lily said slowly, like she enjoyed the uncomfortable look on Simon’s face every time he was called that. She probably did. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhm, same as you, I suppose? You know, trying to watch a movie…”

There was a short cough behind him, and as he looked, he noticed it was his turn to ask for his ticket. He quickly apologised to the woman behind the glass window and bought his ticket, snatching it away as fast as possible.

“So, see you later.”

He stepped out of line, but as he walked up the stairs to where the movie was showing, he could still hear Lily loudly asking three tickets for the _very same movie_.

Simon was reconsidering his earlier statement about his day not being able to get worse.

–

“Elliott!” Right, that was the other vampire’s name. “Where are you going? Our seats are over here.”

Elliott stopped and turned back, with a look of confusion on his face.

“But Lily,” he started. “You know I don’t like sitting that far in the back! The room’s almost empty, and I doubt it’s going to be full - surely we can sit in another row?”

No. No, this was not happening.

“I like sitting in the back.”

Apparently, Raphael was just as unimpressed by Elliott’s scheming as Simon was.

“Nonsense,” Lily said, snapping her fingers. “Elliott is right. We’re too far from the screen. We need to be closer to properly enjoy this masterpiece!”

Had Simon turned back in his seat, he would have seen Raphael glaring at Lily then quietly giving in and following the girl right to the row Simon was sitting in. What’s more, Lily - saying something about how she knew Raphael didn’t like sitting in the aisle seat - decided to gently push the grumpy vampire in the seat right next to Simon.

The boy shifted uncomfortably, but Raphael was still staring at his phone. Which was a rather rude thing to do in a cinema, by the way, but Simon didn’t point it out. He just hoped Raphael would be polite enough to put the phone away once the movie starts.

Lily and Elliott started discussing some party where Derek got so ridiculously drunk that– Simon ignored them, and instead tried to figure out what Raphael was so busy reading on his phone. Raphael yanked his phone away and glared at him, so Simon awkwardly cleared his throat and shifted further from the boy. 

_He’s not a boy. He’s probably like… hundreds of years old_. Still, it was hard to think of that when Raphael looked so young, even younger than Simon or Clary. Not by much, though. He looked to be around Simon’s age, and lately, when they met, Simon found himself staring at the boy sometimes. His ridiculous eyebrows, his long eyelashes that made him look almost feminine, his soft-looking lips that usually formed a frown–

“… only idiots like the Daylighter would not realise that,” Lily said. Simon snapped back into reality and focused on the conversation that was apparently _not_ about Derek anymore.

“What?”

Lily glanced at him.

“That Shadowhunters don’t care about us Downworlders,” she said slowly, like she was talking to a child. 

“That is not true,” Simon started, getting defensive. “Well, it may be true for most Shadowhunters, but it’s not true for Clary and the others. They care about me, and…”

“Would they still care about you if you attacked someone, because you can’t control your powers? Would they try to help you, or would they just put you down like a dog? Like they did with Caleb–”

“ _Lily._ ” 

The girl immediately went silent and looked at Raphael with fear in her eyes. Simon wasn’t surprised - even he got a little scared by the vampire leader’s tone. And, as he looked closer, he had to realise Raphael was _shaking_.

“The Daylighter’s _nothing_ like Caleb,” he said through his teeth, still not turning his eyes away from his phone. Simon started to wonder if he was really reading something, or he just needed something to _look at_.

There was silence. Lily looked like she wanted to melt into her seat and disappear entirely. Finally, it was Elliott who spoke, in a soft voice.

“Raphael, you have to admit there are some… Look, we know that Caleb…”

“ _Cállate_.”

The lights went off. Raphael put his phone away, and none of the vampires said a word for a while.

–

Elliott had been right. In the end, not even half the room was full, and the four of them were the only ones sitting in their own row. Simon guessed anyone who wanted to see the movie had already come and seen it. Him and Clary had to keep putting it off for various reasons.

Fifteen minutes into the movie, Elliott started fidgeting in the aisle seat and kept going for minutes. “I’m sorry,” he whined quietly. “I just remembered I left my computer open. I’m still logged in and everything. If Derek finds it…”

“You can’t be serious,” Raphael hissed.

“No, really. It would ruin my life. My… unlife. You know I don’t like geeky movies anyway.”

“This is not a geeky movie,” Raphael said, and at the same time Simon asked,

“What’s wrong with geeky movies?”

“I’ll make it up to you guys, okay? I’m sorry. I really need to get back to the Hotel, right now,” he whispered, then stood up and slipped out of the room. Raphael frowned, but turned his attention back to the movie.

–

Thirty minutes into the movie, Lily’s phone started buzzing in her pocket.

“ _What_ ,” Raphael asked through his teeth, but it didn’t sound like a question.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered back. “You know how they are… I need to make sure they didn’t set fire to something.”

As Simon wondered why the vampires didn’t call their leader when something was wrong, Lily left them. It took a few more seconds for Simon to realise that he was sitting in a cinema next to Raphael, completely alone in the row.

“I didn’t know you liked sci-fi,” he tried after a few minutes.

“It’s not polite to talk during a movie,” Raphael said quietly. Simon agreed with that. But honestly, the movie had been a disappointment so far, and when would he next get a chance to talk to Raphael like this?

“–Who is Caleb?”

There was no answer.

“Is he your… friend?”

Not a word.

“Your… boyfriend, maybe? Hey, I’m not judging.”

Raphael frowned, but he still didn’t speak.

“Why does Elliott think he is like me?”

“Was,” Raphael said, so quietly that Simon barely caught it. Simon swallowed hard. He had guessed that, but he couldn’t have been sure.

“What happened to him?”

“He attacked someone. He couldn’t control his hunger. Shadowhunters killed him… not quickly, either. They must have enjoyed his screams.” There was a deep disgust in Raphael’s voice.

“He was part of your clan. When did this happen?”

“He was only a fledgling,” Raphael continued in a low voice. Simon glanced around to see if anyone was annoyed by them, but everyone seemed to sit too far away to hear their murmuring. “A child, by our standards. They didn’t care about that, the cazadores de sombras. They killed him anyway.”

Simon wanted to say something about how the vampire clearly attacked someone, but he didn’t. Instead, he stayed silent, waiting for Raphael to continue.

“They say they protect the world from demons, but they only care about themselves… They certainly don’t care about the Children of the Night, or those of the Moon, and they don’t care about mundanes either, the ones they are supposed to be protecting. Children are only worth something if they are their _own_ children. Mundane children can be dragged away in the night and drained of blood, and they never show up…”

“Clary’s not like that,” Simon tried, but he was silenced by Raphael’s look. It was the first time Raphael looked at him since the other two left.

“And you think that makes up for it?”

Simon didn’t.

“About Caleb,” he started quietly, and Raphael turned away. “You said he was only a fledgling.”

The other didn’t answer.

“Was he… I mean, did you…”

“He _wanted_ to be a vampire,” Raphael spat. “Followed me around, begged me for days. There are mundanes who know we exist, my mother was one of them, but few are foolish enough to approach. I kept turning him down, so he said he’d find someone else. Once I saw him approaching Derek, and I dragged him away.”

Simon vaguely remembered Derek, and Lily mentioning that he tore off someone’s head once and drank from the stem.

“I knew if I kept turning him down, he’d get himself killed. Maybe it would have been better.”

“But you Turned him instead. Your first fledgling.”

It was a guess, but Raphael didn’t correct him.

“How old were you?”

“Forty.”

“Huh. It must have been forever ago, then.”

Simon had learned not to expect an answer by now, but it was still as annoying as ever.

“But you liked him. You cared about him, otherwise you wouldn’t get so…”

“Can you _finally_ stop talking?”

“You did, didn’t you?”

“ _Dios_. He was my fledgling, _of course_ I– But I lost him. I promised myself that next time, I’d do better.”

“What happened next time, then?”

Simon had also learned that sometimes, Raphael’s silences said more than words could.

“… Oh.”

Raphael leant back in his seat and stubbornly kept his eyes on the screen, pretending to pay attention to the movie, but his hands were still making fists. Suddenly, Simon felt anger and defiance build up inside him. Why was the other always so _difficult_?

“Is _this_ your idea of doing better?” The question slipped out before he could stop it, and there was just a bit too much accusation in his tone. Raphael jumped to his feet and stormed out of the room, ignoring the disapproving looks he got.

–

“Raphael!”

Damnit. _Damnit_. He’d been looking forward to this movie for weeks, and maybe it was a disappointment, but he had _never_ left a movie halfway before, and–

“Raphael! Stop already!”

Instead of getting on his bike, Raphael rushed past it - there were three bikes, Simon realised too late - and Simon followed him.

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about! You never talk to me properly, you brush me off, you run away… Is _this_ your idea of doing better?”

Raphael stopped abruptly, turning to face him. 

“Why doesn’t anyone _understand_?” he cried out. Out of the corner of his eye, Simon thought he saw a flash of blue, but it disappeared behind a car when he turned his head. “I _tried_. If I hadn’t _cared_ , I wouldn’t have picked your body up, I wouldn’t have taken you back to _them_ , I wouldn’t have stood by your grave and dug you out– Thirty years, and I couldn’t forget how– I wanted to do _better_ – I _tried_.”

Raphael’s sentences fell into pieces, and he almost sounded like he was about to cry, but his eyes hadn’t turned red with blood yet.

“Bane came to me to talk to me about you, talked about how lost you are and how you deserve someone to be there for you, like he– _He_ should know the best why I despise them all, the cazadores de sombras, _he_ should know that I can’t– You chose to be with them instead of us, if that is what you want, I’m not going to fight it, I don’t want to.”

Simon stood, stunned by Raphael’s sudden openness, even if most of what the other said made no sense to him at all.

“You said you cared about Caleb because he’s your fledgling,” he started. “You said _of course_. So do you–”

“ _Dios_.” Raphael sounded tired now, after giving out his frustration. He sounded like he was giving in. “Didn’t I already answer that?”

“You tried to kill me,” Simon pointed out.

“That was _politics_. You might not think of yourself as a weapon, but you can be turned into one. I couldn’t let that power fall into the hands of the Shadowhunters and have it used against me.” Raphael narrowed his eyes. “And trust me. Once they’re done pretending to be friendly, the Clave _will_ try to use you against your kind.”

It scared Simon how much he _believed_ that. Clary would never let it happen, but maybe Clary didn’t stand a chance against the other Shadowhunters.

“I’m not a weapon,” he protested anyway. Raphael shook his head.

“I’m done arguing about this,” he said softly and turned to leave. Immediately, Simon knew he couldn’t let him do that.

“Wait! We haven’t– If you want to do better, if you want to help me, you need to be honest with me. You can’t just run away after you finally started!”

Raphael stopped with his back to Simon. “What do you want to talk about?” he asked slowly.

“I don’t… Well. How did you like the movie?”

Raphael snorted.

“We both left before the end.”

“I _know_ , but the first part.”

“It was a disaster.”

“I agree. From the trailers, I thought it would be like Galaxy Quest, but they just… tried too hard, I think. The jokes weren’t too funny, and often it seemed like they were trying to make fun of their own audience.” He paused. “Galaxy Quest was a movie from–”

“I know.”

Well, that was surprising.

“I agree it was better with the jokes than this movie,” Raphael continued in a quiet voice. “Galaxy Quest is a classic. It’s a shame it’s not more popular nowadays, like that Star Wars.”

“Now, Star Wars is a completely different category,” Simon protested as he caught up to Raphael. The other vampire started walking again, but he didn’t try to leave Simon behind.

“You’re not about to launch into a lengthy explanation of your geeky movies, are you?”

“Well. You said you know Galaxy Quest, so technically, you started it…”

“That is not true at all.”

“It is!”

Raphael shook his head, and Simon thought he noticed him sending a glare towards a nearby tree, but he could not see anything.

He did not ask why Raphael decided to walk back to the Hotel instead of taking his bike. He did not mind. It was a nice walk.


End file.
